* $1,795 – I ask them to finish within 6 months, however most don’t. I’ve never charged when they’ve gone long, even after four years. Good on ya if you are in an area where you can charge more, however, criticism for those folks that charge less is inexcusable. It absolutely does NOT water down the value of the program, but makes it available to some less-privileged and quite grateful folks.
* Intro Day – $200 can be credited towards the P2 course. If it’s not what they expected, I don’t want their money, or to have them quit in the middle of the program.
* I have a gigantic disclaimer/waiver they must sign, in addition to the USHPA waiver. It’s something I obtained and adapted from the very first instructor clinic I ever took, from one within our ranks, and I like it. The student has to not only read and initial each section of the 3 pages, but they also have to transcribe, in their own hand, one pretty good sized paragraph that repeatedly states how dangerous the sport can be.
* Art of Paragliding, I don’t just give it to them, we use it. I give 5 mandatory classroom sessions, Weather, Aerodynamics, FAR Part 103 and Airspace, Safety, and Reserve Clinic.
* WX and Aerodynamics always go long in the classroom, 3 hours+/each, as well as the subjects come up constantly during practical lessons.
* Every time we’re at a training site we talk about situational awareness.
* Part 103 and Safety, 2+ hours each, again these subjects come up outside of the classroom regularly.
* Reserve/repack Clinic – we’re sending folks out to soar. 5+ hours. They should have intimate knowledge of the reserve system, not just a few passages in a book. This is the one class I open up to the general flying community. I charge the same amount I charge for them to just have me repack their chute, $40, so many people just come to the class. Free to current P2 students.
* Syllabus
* USHPA flight logbook, including a sticker I’ve created for the inside back cover, where I sign off and date each of the 5 academic classes.
* Air Addict’s New Student Packet, which includes some additional material that isn’t as comprehensive within the Art of Paragliding.
* Two mandatory field trips prior to P2, one coastal, one inland. I won’t sign off a person before I get a chance to see how they handle some version of soaring, a chance to demonstrate sound judgment and that I can see there isn’t sensory overload or other issues.
* I’ve yet to make it mandatory that my students buy their gear from me. I don’t want to imply that I believe other schools should take the same approach, I’ve just had a hard time bringing myself to take that position.
* My students are expected to be able to kite uphill, crosswind, wind straight-in, and are taught how to control the paraglider once it’s out of the bag until it’s packed away. They also develop the ability to turn in either direction from reverse to forward. They are first taught how to control the wing using A and D risers (or Cs in the 3 liners) having complete control of both the leading and trailing edges, then are taught the other techniques.
* Students are taught the value of parawaiting. Students are taught to watch at least three cycles while at an inland site before unpacking their gear.
* Our written P2 exam needs to be revised. It’s dated. After complaining that there was an instructor that had the written exam posted on her website without even password protecting it, I completely revised it and created a module on my website for the test. It took many months for USHPA to finally get her to remove it from her website. I can only imagine how many students found that test prior to taking it. Two different (honest) students of mine were the ones to point it out to me, so some of your students likely found it, too.
* While I don’t advertise this, I let each of them know, there’s no charge for them for having me administrate P3 and P4. I have much intimate knowledge of their time as pilots and it takes very little of my time to validate their achievement.
* I can’t/won’t sign someone off for P2 that doesn’t have their own gear. It’s not about the $, but I need to make sure, within the context of a controlled environment that they’ve bonded with equipment they’ll be flying for at least a little while. This includes doing an inspection and if possible, test flying their gear. I’ve had students buy wings in the past and found them way out of trim. In one case I test flew a wing that looked brand new and knew there was something dramatically wrong with it. Research turned up many complaints, an effort to get the wing recalled, and subsequently the company had gone out of business.
* I used to do written progress reports. They required at least 16 different days/entries, plus the 5 Academic lessons, so there was no chance of someone coming out for a 10 day quickie P2 course. Still isn’t a chance of that, however, it was a lot easier to update all of those reports when I only had 5 or 6 students. With the addition of the RRG logging and some other spreadsheets that are time sucks, I’ve stopped keeping written progress reports, at least for now.
We train all year ’round. The quickest people make it to P2 is usually 3 months, if they’re superstars AND we have decent conditions. Average time is 6 to 8 months. Typical for people with families, careers, and life in general, is a year. Barring things like military deployment, pregnancy and new kids, health, job or school changes, most folks complete the course within a year. They’re cool with that, and so am I. Average amount of flights is probably around 50 to 60. average amount of class days, around 25. I’m not going to hold back a superstar, but very few people are good enough at paragliding in less than 20 lessons to be independent of an instructor.